Picture Imperfect

                             Leech?

SIMPLY SNICKERS displays 'The Goose Girl' as one of this weeks choices.
http://simplysnickers.blogspot.com/

A simple little painting? But all is not as it seems!


PICTURE IMPERFECT.

There she stands among the bluebells,

In a picture-perfect pose,

Geese are scattered round the hemline

Of her quaint and dated clothes.

She was such a 'Pride of Erin'

Dublin prized her Irishness,

In the Gallery they hung her;

She was certain to impress.

They said the artist found her 

On a sojourn deep in France;

Admirers stood around delighted

By the happy circumstance.

William Leech was a son of Ireland;

So their pride was not surprising.

Indeed she became the logo

On the Gallery's advertising!

Then came the day they discovered

A picture that pierced  their pride.

The picture's similarities

Just could not be denied!

'Spring Morning among the Bluebells',

The painting that was found,

Was by an Englishman called Royle!

Dublin's art-world really frowned.

Then, on closer inspection,

A small 'le', that's all,

Proved the rightful name of the artist,

And so pride had to fall.

It seems  that William Leech

Had put the painting on display,

On the wall of his own studio,

But in no dishonest way.

He simply liked the painting,

And others, when he died,

Presumed that it was done by him

And that never was denied.

So....a painting with a history;

A fascinating story;

How a certain Dublin Gallery 

Lost some of its former glory.

But here's a postscript of my own.......

My daughter, when quite young,

Traced the selfsame picture

And here you see it hung,

Hung in our spare bedroom,

For all the world to see,

A tapestry of 'The Goose Girl'!

How famous can you be!


Note: she got tired of embroidering bluebells and fabricated a lake at the back!